Where The Wild Things Are (Essay Sample)

Where the wild things are

Fairy tales were used to portray some of the social evils, especially during the early centuries. Like many writers, Maurice Sendak is one of the most acclaimed authors of children’s books who forged a unique way , highlighting some of the hidden themes during the twentieth century. One of his picture books “where the wild things are” remain the most popular work to date. Where the wild thing is a children’s book by Maurice Sendak directed towards parents, in his message, Maurice describes the addiction of power and control using his main character. He uses Max the main character who strives to control everything around him to show the emotional struggles of children.

Maurice shows how Max progresses to assume power and eventually discarding it. Where the wild things are presented the inner feelings of a young boy Max, including his reactions to his mother’s lack of understanding, showing the neglected parts of a child’s mind. According to the story, Max is unruly; he is punished by his mother and sent to his to his room without eating dinner. His rage is evident when his room transformed into a strange forest. Max in his imagination takes a private boat to where the wild things are. With all the roars and scary features, he manages to become the ruler using magic tricks.

In the story, Max becomes the wildest thing of all. The story can be interpreted in several ways. For example, max replicates what his mother did to him, but when he finds himself lonely as the king of the wild things, he feels as if he needs people to love him. The story also presents how Max loses control of his behavior and imagination as he exercises his power through his imagination. Power is what makes the story where the wild things are an interesting book. Power is what makes Maurice a great artist because he understood some of the scary complexities of being a child. Maurice courageously conveyed the true picture of being a child presenting the needs of young children in his literature. Using Max, he presented how Max took control by yelling to the wild things, ordering them to do what he wants. Through Max, Maurice shows how the displacement of anger in children can cause damage. He yells at the wild things to release the anger he had when his mother yelled at him.

In the story, the author conveys a full range of emotions from anger to joy to and the feeling one gets when he is in control. Max goes through different emotions in search for love and acceptance. At one point Max tames the wild thing using magic tricks that make the animals obey. Maurice wanted to inform adults that children knew about sorrow, sadness, and even death. Using his drawings of his early childhood, Sendak created a story that resonated with the reader’s sense of their childhood from a child’s perspective. He used different writing styles to provide a safe passage for adults to understand the world of a child.

Imagination helps the readers understand the world of a child presenting Max unruly behavior and his needs. From having his teddy bear, hammering a nail into the wall, chasing the dog with a fork and his room being a forest and sailing off to the land of the wild things. All these aspects of the story present the realities of our world, the world where children are misunderstood; they are frightened and hope to be loved by their caregiver.